Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep. 5 War Rape, Part 2
03/16/23 • 33 min
Summary
In an equally difficult second part to our conversation on war rape, we begin to unpack what Ancient Near Eastern war practices looked like with regards to enemy women, in order to understand how the law in Deuteronomy 21:10-14 makes improvements. Though the specifics of the law remain reprehensible to our current values, it does become evident that in ancient Israel, even captive brides are given a level of status and consideration that is completely unprecedented in the ancient world.
Notes
1) Helen Paynter’s book The Bible Doesn’t Tell Me So https://www.amazon.ca/Bible-Doesnt-Tell-Me-So/dp/0857469894/
2) Helen Paynter’s 2018 Whitley Lecture Dead and Buried?: attending to the voices of the victim in the Old Testament and today available:
3) Ashley Hibbard’s seminar “By Faith, They Still Speak” at the Stoney Creek Church of Christ weekend “Keep Listening: Hearing Victims’ Voices” (audio improves dramatically about two minutes in!)
"By Faith They Still Speak" -- Keep Listening Seminar, October, 2021
4) Our thanks and appreciation to our partners:
This podcast is a production of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence.
https://www.csbvbristol.org.uk/
Podcast cover art by Studio of Broken Things
https://www.facebook.com/ISA4048
Intro music "Br1ghter" by Tape Machines, Le June, Nbhd Nick
Summary
In an equally difficult second part to our conversation on war rape, we begin to unpack what Ancient Near Eastern war practices looked like with regards to enemy women, in order to understand how the law in Deuteronomy 21:10-14 makes improvements. Though the specifics of the law remain reprehensible to our current values, it does become evident that in ancient Israel, even captive brides are given a level of status and consideration that is completely unprecedented in the ancient world.
Notes
1) Helen Paynter’s book The Bible Doesn’t Tell Me So https://www.amazon.ca/Bible-Doesnt-Tell-Me-So/dp/0857469894/
2) Helen Paynter’s 2018 Whitley Lecture Dead and Buried?: attending to the voices of the victim in the Old Testament and today available:
3) Ashley Hibbard’s seminar “By Faith, They Still Speak” at the Stoney Creek Church of Christ weekend “Keep Listening: Hearing Victims’ Voices” (audio improves dramatically about two minutes in!)
"By Faith They Still Speak" -- Keep Listening Seminar, October, 2021
4) Our thanks and appreciation to our partners:
This podcast is a production of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence.
https://www.csbvbristol.org.uk/
Podcast cover art by Studio of Broken Things
https://www.facebook.com/ISA4048
Intro music "Br1ghter" by Tape Machines, Le June, Nbhd Nick
Previous Episode
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep. 4 War Rape Part 1
Summary
In part one of this very uncomfortable episode, we try to think through the issue of forced marriage and war rape as addressed in Deuteronomy 21:10-14. We wrestle with our disgust for the practice, trying to see it through both our modern understanding of issues of power imbalance and consent, and also how it might have been understood by the first readers as an improvement on standard ancient war practice. Finally, we consider how this might inform our ethical positions.
Notes
1) Story as Torah by Gordon Wenham:
https://www.amazon.ca/Story-Torah-Testament-Narrative-Ethically/dp/0801027837
2) Our thanks and appreciation to our partners:
This podcast is a production of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence.
https://www.csbvbristol.org.uk/
Podcast cover art by Studio of Broken Things
https://www.facebook.com/ISA4048
Intro music "Br1ghter" by Tape Machines, Le June, Nbhd Nick
Next Episode
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep. 6 Hyperbole
Summary
In this episode, we talk through chapters 8-10 of Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric?, which address the use of hyperbole in the conquest narratives, and addresses some of the arguments against hyperbole. We talk about reading the bible seriously, the appeal of “literal,” and how literalism creates more problems than it solves. We also discuss different sorts of hyperbole that were frequently employed in the Ancient Near East, most of which also occur in scripture, and where scripture is similar to and different from the accounts of the surrounding nations.
Notes
Our thanks and appreciation to our partners:
This podcast is a production of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence.
https://www.csbvbristol.org.uk/
Podcast cover art by Studio of Broken Things
https://www.facebook.com/ISA4048
Intro music "Br1ghter" by Tape Machines, Le June, Nbhd Nick
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